The 404 Media Podcast

How This Trippy Image Started A Massive Conspiracy Theory

April 29, 2026·47 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

This week, Jason explains the conspiracy theory circulating behind a trippy stock image that went viral after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—was it sent here by a time traveler? (Spoiler: It was not.) Then Sam unpacks what’s happening at Arizona State University with a messy rollout of a new AI-powered tool that generates lessons by scraping professors’ lectures without their knowledge. In the second for subscribers at the Supporter level, Emanuel gets philosophical with a discussion about the question of machine consciousness and how it relates to a new paper from a Google-affiliated scientist. ⁠University Professors Disturbed to Find Their Lectures Chopped Up and Turned Into AI Slop⁠ ⁠Did a Time Traveling Superintelligent AI Try to Warn About White House Correspondents Dinner Shooting? An Investigation⁠ ⁠Google DeepMind Paper Argues LLMs Will Never Be Conscious⁠ YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/VOo0ZpIagP0 Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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